What you base your happiness around?
Material, women, and large paper?
That means you inferior, not major.
Nas, “No Idea’s Original,” The Lost Tapes, 2002
Posts Tagged With: east coast
Food for thought, so get a buffet plate.
The lyrics are so fat you might gain weight.
Doodlebug, “Where I’m From,” from Digable Planets’ Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space, 1993
I wish I didn’t get searched when I come through customs.
I wish Christians stop beefin’ with Muslims,
Wish the poor didn’t have to take welfare,
Wish America had universal health care…
Cause ain’t no help here.
Edo G., “Wishing,” My Own Worst Enemy, 2004
Though the meek shall inherit the earth, but don’t forget:
The poor are the ones who inherit the debt.
Posdnuos, “The Grind Date,” from De La Soul’s The Grind Date, 2004
Trapped on a planet of pain and perpetrators
That you call ‘Earth,’ but I call ‘Hell’s Equator.’
MF Grimm, “Emotions,” Scars & Memories, 2005
The mind is a terrible thing to waste.
I show love cause it’s a terrible thing to hate.
Guru, “Peace of Mine,” from Gang Starr’s The Ownerz, 2003
The first lady in my life, but now you’re gone,
I learned through the years to keep carrying on.
Your picture brings me tears and memories,
The way things could be…and they should be, but they’re not.
Afrika Baby Bam, “All I Think About Is You,” from Jungle Brothers’ J. Beez Wit The Remedy, 1993
I’m surrounded by psychopathic little fellas,
Ghetto dwellas, with ammunition in their cellas,
And no remorse in their hearts
When the shit starts it don’t end…
Until somebody’s gone with the wind.
Masta Ace, “Maintain,” Sittin on Chrome EP, 1995
I don’t mind you talkin shit, just keep it in the first person.
El-P, “89.9 Detrimental,” from Company Flow’s Funcrusher Plus, 1997
Know the shit I don’t write be the illest shit that’s ever been recited in the game,
Word to the hyphen in my name!
Jay Z, “The Watcher 2,” The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse, 2002. Jay Z dropped the hyphen today.
I got mouths to feed,
Unnecessary beef is more cows to breed.
GZA, “4th Chamber,” Liquid Swords, 1995
Rappers act so wild, and love to profile,
Frontin’ hard, but ain’t got no style.
Big Daddy Kane, “Smooth Operator,” It’s a Big Daddy Thing, 1989
Consider me the entity within the industry without a history of spitting the epitome of stupidity.
Talib Kweli, “Definition,” from Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star, 1998
In time, you’ll see a thin line between friend and rival.
Between you and me: stupidity and men’s bravado.
Ka, “Iron Age,” Grief Pedigree, 2012
No matter what the name, we’re all the same pieces in one big chess game.
Chuck D., “Rebel Without a Pause,” from Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, 1988
Burn, Hollywood, burn, I smell a riot goin’ on,
First they’re guilty, now they’re gone!
Chuck D., “Burn, Hollywood, Burn,” from Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet, 1990
Nowadays, the game is all bugged out,
Phony, like back when Hammer tried to come thugged out.
MF Doom, “Foolish,“ from MF Grimm’s Downfall of Ibliys: A Ghetto Opera, 2002
If you love someone, you should say it often,
You never know when they’ll be layin’ in a coffin.
Wake up, it’s important that you know that
No one on Earth is promised tomorrow.
MC Lyte, “Poor Georgie,” Act Like You Know, 1991
Lyrically, I’m supposed to represent;
I’m not only the client, I’m the player president.
The Notorious B.I.G., “One More Chance (Remix),” 12", 1995
I’m only trying to show you how black niggas live,
But you don’t want your little ones acting like this.
Lil Amy told Becky, Becky told Jenny,
And now they all know the skinny.
Lil Joey got his durag on,
Driving down the street blasting Tupac’s song.
Jay-Z, “Hell Yeah (Pimp the System) (Remix)”, from Revolutionary But Gangsta, 2004
Feds still lurking,
They see I’m still putting work in.
Cause somewhere in America…
Miley Cyrus is still twerkin’.
Jay-Z, “Somewhere In America,” Magna Carta Holy Grail, 2013
It’s the principle of it, I get a rush when I bust
Some dope lines oral, that maybe somebody’ll quote.
That’s what I consider real in this field of music,
Instead of puttin’ brain cells to work, they abuse it.
Non-conceptual, non-exceptional,
Everybody’s either crime-related or sexual.
For those who pose lyrical, but really ain’t true, I feel:
Their time’s limited, hard rocks too.
O.C., “Time’s Up,” Word…Life, 1994
I drop styles on ears…the public bite ‘em.
Not many went to school, so the dummies wouldn’t write ’em.
They say, “Yo Keith! You’re Kool, you usin’ big words!”
I went to college, I’m even more stupid, herb.
Kool Keith, “Raise It Up,” from Ultramagnetic M.C.’s The Four Horsemen, 1993
Payback’s a bitch, that’s why I never borrow;
And if push comes to shove, I’d do a stickup tomorrow.
Daddy-O, “Inner City Boundaries,” from Freestyle Fellowship’s Innercity Griots, 1993
They claim we’re products from the bottom of Hell,
But the black is back, and it’s bound to sell.
Picture us coolin’ out on the Fourth of July…
And if you heard we were celebratin’, that’s a worldwide lie.
Flavor Flav, “Louder than a Bomb,” from Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, 1988
My heart is ‘We Are the World,’ my penis is P.E.
But my balls are Avatar, you could see ’em in 3D.
Pharoahe Monch, “Let U Live,” from Consequence’s Movies on Demand, 2010
Everything will eventually come to an end,
So try to savor the moment, cause time flies, don’t it?
The beauty of life, you gotta make it last for the better,
Cause nothin’ lasts forever.
Nas, “Nothing Lasts Forever,” The Lost Tapes, 2002
I know you think my life is good ‘cause my diamond piece,
But my life been good since I started finding peace.
Nas, “Loco-Motive,” Life Is Good, 2012
Raise your right palm: We do solemnly swear
To stack more dough more calmly this year.
MF Doom, “Get ‘Er Done,” from Jake One’s White Van Music, 2008
…About those other Jennys I reckoned with
Lost them all like a homework excuse.
This time the Magic Number is Two,
‘Cause it takes two, not three, to seduce.
Dove, “Eye Know,” from De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising, 1989
Comin’ from the school of hard knocks,
Some perpetrate…they drink Clorox.
Attack the black, cause I know they lack exact
The cold facts, and still they try to Xerox.
Chuck D., “Don’t Believe the Hype,” from Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Million’s To Hold Us Back, 1988
I’ll have you weak in the knees that you could hardly speak,
Or we could do like Uncle L and swing an ep in my Jeep.
Q-Tip, “Electric Relaxation,” from A Tribe Called Quest’s Midnight Marauders, 1993
We fight every night, now that’s not kosher.
I reminisce with bliss of when we was closer,
And wake up to be greeted by an argument again,
…You act like you’re ten.
So immature, I try to concentrate on a cure,
And keep lookin’ at the front door.
Large Professor, “Looking at the Front Door,” from Main Source’s Breaking Atoms, 1991
I drink twenty forties, smoke forty blunts,
Say a hundred rhymes, and not sound like you once.
Dres, “Roll Wit Tha Flava,” from Flavor Unit’s Roll Wit Tha Flava, 1993
You dudes is noodles, I got more ziti to bake.
You dudes is cake, I keep two biscuits on the waist.
Razor blades under the tongue, I will eat your face,
Appetite for destruction, I am starvin’ today.
Got a money hungry lawyer that’ll eat the case,
And that’s just food for thought, don’t let it go to waste.
Jay-Z, “U Don’t Know (Remix),” The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse, 2002
You and your friends…always together,
No time for the B-I-G, so I’m O-U-T.
The sex was great, but the headaches I can’t take.
I think I made a very big mistake.
Notorious B.I.G., “Buddy X (Remix),” from Neneh Cherry’s Homebrew, 1992
It’s been a long time…I shouldn’t have left you
Without a strong rhyme to step to.
Rakim, “I Know You Got Soul,” from Eric B. and Rakim’s Paid In Full, 1987
Be a father, if not, why bother, son?
A boy can make ‘em, but a man can raise one.
If you did it, admit it and stick with it.
Ed O.G., “Be a Father to Your Child,” from Ed O.G. & Da Bulldogs’s Life of a Kid in the Ghetto, 1991
It’s a beautiful day, and everybody’s feelin’ wonderful,
The ladies is out, lookin’ fly, dressed comfortable.
I love to wake up, and feel the breeze through my window,
Slip on fatigues, grab a dutch, and roll some indo.
Dead Prez, “Happiness,” Let’s Get Free, 2000
I go to Queens for queens to get the crew from Brooklyn,
Make money in Manhattan and never been tooken.
Go Uptown and the Bronx to boogie down,
Get strong on the Island, recoup, and lay around.
Rakim, “Juice (Know the Ledge),” from Eric B. & Rakim’s Don’t Sweat the Technique, 1992
It was magic, I felt the bond between us.
She was a jelly to my peanuts, Mars to Venus,
The Earth to my sun, moon and stars,
We added up mathematically…
It’s like I had a bad habit, B!
Ghostface Killah, “The Center of Attraction,” Twelve Reasons to Die, 2013
The last batter to hit, blast shattered your hip,
Smash any splitter or fastball—that’ll be it.
Pharoahe Monch, “The Next Shit,” Internal Affairs, 1999
The rap era’s outta control,
Brothers’ sellin their soul to go gold…
Going, going, gone, another rapper sold!
Parrish Smith, “Crossover,” EPMD’s Business Never Personal, 1993
I’m goin’ out first class, ain’t goin’ out coach.
MCA, “The Sounds of Science,” from Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique, 1989. Remembering Adam Yauch, who passed away a year ago today. Rest in Peace, MCA.
Super-cali-fragalistic-expiali-docious,
Docious-ali-expi-fragalistic-cali-super.
Cancun…catch me in the room, eatin’ grouper.
Ghostface Killah, “Buck 50,” Supreme Clientele, 1999
Food for thought, eat my words with your mind:
Emcees are grapes, and grapes are crushed to wine.
MF Grimm, “Do It for the Kids,” 12", 1998
I’m complexicated like a Rubik’s Cube puzzle,
Who said I drink? I don’t drink, I guzzle.
Subroc, “Sweet Premium Wine,” from K.M.D.’s Black Bastards, 1994
It ain’t where you’re from, it’s where you’re at.
Rakim, “I Know You Got Soul,” from Eric B. and Rakim’s Paid In Full, 1987
CIA, FBI, all they tell us is lies.
And when I say it, they get alarmed…
‘Cause I’m louder than a bomb.
Chuck D., “Louder Than a Bomb,” from Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, 1988
Inhale deep like the words of my breath,
I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death.
Nas, “New York State of Mind,” Illmatic, 1994